Match Report: 2.11.2014 - Stars v Steelers EIHL

Sunday 2^nd November 2014 – Dundee Stars (1-9-2) v Sheffield Steelers (8-1-0) @ Dundee Ice Arena. Face-off: 6.30pm, Elite League

Dundee Stars – 4
Martin Cingel - 1st

John Dolan - 1st

Igor Gongalsky - 2nd PP

Jeff Hutchins - 3rd

Sheffield Steelers – 2
Mathieu Roy - 1st PP

Mathieu Roy - 2nd

Game got underway and the Steelers were missing Pascal Morency which I suspect was due to the hit he received from behind the night before in Edinburgh but it would be a slow start by the Steelers who were giving Dundee too much time to create chance on Doyle's goal and after killing an early Powerplay a mistake by Ben O'Connor let in Matt Ryan on a 2 v 1 break and he smartly played the puck to his left for Martin Cingel to finish it off nicely for a 1-0 lead on 6:21. It would soon be 2-0 though after sloppiness from the Steelers let Jeff Hutchins skate down the right un-challenged before he threw a puck in front of goal with ease for John Dolan to nicely re-direct the puck past Frank Doyle at 7:12. Sheffield started to come into the game a little bit more creating good chances but being thwarted by the impressive Cheverie who was in fantastic form all night but Sheffield would get an opportunity on the man advantage themselves as Ryan Grimshaw was called for hooking and it took the Steelers six seconds to pounce when off the face-off won by Roy to Fretter who nicely slid the puck to Roy who took touch touches before slotting the puck past Cheverie for a PPG at 13:06 to bring the Steelers within one goal. Sheffield should have probably been level before the interval if it wasn't for some last ditch defending by Dundee to deny the Steelers top line including a scramble on the Stars goal line with several players jumping on top of each other but Dundee would take the lead into the break.

End of the 1st Period: Dundee Stars 2–1 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Stars 8-23 Steelers

Second period started with Sheffield having to kill an early 2+2 penalty on Mosienko for accidental high sticks but it was penalty kill that the Steelers looked more likely to score on as Cheverie Almost put one in high own net after coming to gather the puck he attempted to put it round his own goal but put it onto his own post as well as Roy being denied 1v1 himself but as the Steelers came back to full strength they levelled the game almost instantly when at 24:31 assisted by Hay and Baldwin, Roy skated in front of Cheverie before showing good stick skills to round the Dundee netminder to score into the empty net. Sheffield would have another man advantage but wouldn't be able to take the lead as Cheverie denied them at every opportunity but the game wasn't one sided as Frank Doyle had to make some fantastic saves as Stars were banging on the doorstep and just couldn't get the puck past Doyle but on 30:34 Dundee went on the man advantage with Hewitt in the box and again Sheffield nearly scored themselves as a bad decision by Cheverie almost let in Forney who rounded the goal but a good sprawling save denied the Steelers forward with the leg pads but it was Dundee who took the lead when at 32:21 Gongalsky had the puck to the left of Doyle's goal and shot in front of goal and I'm certain it deflected of a Steeler past Doyle for a PPG to give Stars a 3-2 lead. Sheffield tried to come back at Dundee but again they would be going into the break a goal down.
End of the 2nd Period: Dundee Stars 3–2 Sheffield Steelers

Shots on Goal: Stars 12–10 Steelers

Sheffield came into the third period knowing they hadn't played 40 minutes despite out shooting the home side massively they just wasn't clinical enough and the same can be said for the third period when Forney was denied early on but at 41:37 Dundee extended their lead to 4-2 when Hutchins found himself in possession of the puck all alone to the right of Doyle and fired a nicely taken wrist shot past the glove of Doyle which left Sheffield with a lot of work to do to get back into this game. Even with further powerplay opportunities the aggressive penalty kill by the Stars was frustrating the Steelers as at time they struggled to find the shooting lanes and had to result for shooting from distance, Stars very nearly made it a 5-2 score line when they found themselves on a 2v1 break but a poor touch would overrun the puck and it allowed Frank Doyle to cover it up, with the clock ticking down Sheffield was throwing everything at Cheverie including the kitchen sink but the Dundee netminder was in outstanding form and how he didn't get man of the match I'll never know. In a last ditch effort Gerad Adams pulled Frank Doyle at 59:28 for the extra attacker in an attempt to pull a goal back but they'd fall for 4-2 in Dundee only taking two points back to Sheffield but still 10 league games in and Sheffield have an impressive record of 8-2-0 only 3 points of the top of the table with games in hand.
Shots on Goal: Stars 5–14 Steelers

FINAL SCORE: Dundee Stars 4–2 Sheffield Steelers

Boxscore (1st-2nd-3rd-OT-[PIM]-{PP}-S)

Stars       - 2-1-1-0-[10]-{1/3}-25

Sheffield - 1-1-0-0-[10]-{1/4}-47

Stars Man of the Match: #71 Jeff Hutchins
Sheffield Man of the Match: #15 Mathieu Roy

Stars Points Round Up:- 11 Points
Shane Lust (0+1), John Dolan (1+1), Matt Ryan (0+1), Igor Gongalsky (1+1), Sam McCluskey (0+1), Kevin Quick (0+1), Martin Cingel (1+0), Jeff Hutchins (1+1)

Sheffield Points Round Up:- 6 Points

Gord Baldwin (0+1), Mathieu Roy (2+0), Colton Fretter (0+1), Darrell Hay (0+1), Ben O'Connor (0+1)

Referee: #10 Neil Wilson

Referee:

Linesman: #20 Paval Halas

Linesman: #47 Gregor Mizen

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Let's Go Steelers!

Tom
@TomWalkeden 
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